NHS prescriptions in England to cost almost £10 which is a ‘tax on the working poor’

The cost of NHS prescription in England are to rise to almost £10 which is a “tax on the working poor” and “dark day” for patients.

From Wednesday NHS prescriptions will rise from £9.65 to £9.90 per item and the 12-month prescription prepayment certificate will increase from £111.60 to £114.5.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in England said that prescriptions charges should be scrapped, as in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland they are free.

RPS chairwoman Tase Oputu said, “This is a dark day for patients who will now have to pay nearly £10 for each item on their prescription.

“Amid the cost-of-living crisis, the rise in prescription charges will hit working people on low incomes the hardest.

“The relentless annual increase in the prescription charge is making medicines unaffordable for many.

“This is totally unacceptable.

“You can, it seems, put a price on health.

“Every day pharmacists are asked by patients who are unable to afford all the items in their prescription which ones they can ‘do without’.

“No-one should face a financial barrier to getting the medicines they need to keep them well.

“Prescription charges should be scrapped in England, as they have been in the rest of the UK.”

Nick Kaye, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, said, “To allow the prescription charge to rise to this level is a shameful neglect of working people on low fixed incomes, who are not exempt.

“Many people already choose not to collect some or all their prescription medicines because of cost, with potentially dire health consequences.

“This is a tax on the working poor that deepens the cost-of-living crisis for them.”